In sleepless Hogsmeade, the noise did not finally die down until four in the morning.
Hunter, the bartender at the Broken Stone Tavern, thoughtfully entrusted the last drunken customer to the patrolling Purple-Robed Wizarding Police to take home.
Only then did he rub his lower back and sit on a barstool for a brief rest, before starting to calculate how much commission he had earned selling drinks that day.
Beside him, Julian, a shapely waitress, deftly cleaned with Household Magic, preparing for business to pick up again in just a few hours.
Julian struck up a conversation with Hunter, her voice full of concern.
"Calculating today's earnings again? You've already worked twelve hours. Go rest in the back for a while. I'll keep an eye on things here."
Hunter was very young, an orphan of just nineteen. He had graduated from Beauxbatons and had only recently come to England.
Before this, the young man had applied to the Ministry of Magic, trying for both clerical and combat positions.
Because he had needed to worry about tuition while at school, his magical skills were not particularly strong, so neither application had succeeded.
Fortunately, he was a good talker and had learned to mix drinks while working in the Muggle world. That had landed him a job at this tavern, selling drinks and doubling as a mixologist, with a very respectable income.
In truth, he had been something of a slacker before and had never worked this hard.
The reason for the change was that he had found his younger brother, from whom he had been separated for years. His brother was one of the trafficked young wizards England had rescued.
To give his brother a better life, Hunter had begun working hard, even ignoring Julia's subtly expressed feelings several times.
"No,